Hendrix at the Isle of Wight Festival - 1970
Hendrix's Isle of Wight performance was one of his last.
Isle of Wight Festival
1970
Held between 26 -30 August 1970, this was actually the third Isle of Wight Festival and had hosted The Who and Bob Dylan the previous year. But this was easily the biggest; the crowd of 600 000 was around 6 times that of the island's population, making it bigger than Woodstock.
Despite a strong line-up, poor planning and security resulted in crowd trouble (plus financial disaster for the organisers, Fiery Creations). While there were triumphs for The Who, Miles Davis and the newly formed ELP, Jimi Hendrix's set wasn't one of his strongest. Technical problems and overenthusiastic consumption of LSD resulted in an uninspiring performance. Halfway through the set the guitarist told the audience to go and buy hot dogs instead of listening to him. It was to be his last public performance in the UK and he would be dead two weeks later.
Related Pages
I was there
Related Programme
The Birth of Rock - Blues-based Rock 1963-1970
The rock revolution of the 1960s seen through the life and music of Jimi Hendrix.
Have Your Say
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ALAN - TAMWORTH
I was 19 Years of age.What would I know of Political interfrence? Bad Commercial Organisation? This was a great venue, with a Hill. I could save £3,a lot of money then.Just camp on the Hill and look down into the Arena ,and see Hendrix!Adrian Roach Ivinghoe, Bucks
Charles Shaar Murray mentioned on 7 Ages of Rock that the Jimi was tired at the IoW and depressed that others including Jim Morrison had died. So who was the guy belting out the vocals for the Doors that weekend? For the record Jim Morrison died on 3 July 1971. Very sloppy journalism, Charles, especially as you seem determined to talk over every decent piece of archive footage.Kees Alkemade, The Hague (NL)
I wasnt there. I would if I could (first life-performace Dylan did since years), but I didnt have the money to go there (and my parents didnt let me). But when I see this movies and hear the sound it was all for the money and none for the show; no spirit, no touch, no feeling, no music (xuse-me: Hendrix with humbuckers on a Gibson???, Dylan doing Mighty Nothing??, Doors with a beard? This was the end of the beginning!Nick. Cyprus
The Isle of Wight may have been imperfect in organisation and the performance of some performers but it was an authentic event compared to the latter-day commercially-driven shows drained of the raw expressoin we experienced in August 1970.The line-up is unmatched by anything that's happened since in the UK and will be etched into the memories ( good and not so good ) of the people there.
Ricky Farr
Promoter
Master of Ceremonies at the event.
Dr Robin Farquharson
White Panther
Encouraged festival goers to breakdown the barriers and make it a free festival.